Tsipras quits as MP; new party ahead?
Former prime minister Alexis Tsipras resigned from Parliament Monday, further fueling speculation about his founding a new political party. Pundits now believe it’s only a matter of time before Tsipras announces the new party. In a video clip he posted, Tsipras did not state his intentions explicitly, but, addressing his “comrades” in SYRIZA, the party he led for 15 years, he said: “We will not be adversaries. And maybe we will soon embark on a journey together again, in lovelier seas.”
https://www.ekathimerini.com/politics/1283022/tsipras-quits-as-mp-new-party-ahead
Greek government reaffirms support for Cyprus amid tensions over power cable project
The Greek government has reaffirmed its support for Cyprus and emphasized the importance of the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnection project, amid rising tensions over its viability and cost-sharing. Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis said the project will move forward only if financial and technical concerns are resolved and its sustainability is not in question. “This is a project that will benefit Cyprus,” Marinakis said during a briefing with journalists. “The money cannot be behind only one side.”
Larissa Appeals Prosecutor accepts all exhumation requests of Tempi victims by their families
The exhumation requests by relatives of Tempi accident victims for toxicology and biochemical tests were accepted by the Larissa Appeals Prosecutor on Monday. In addition, if any findings result from these tests, a separate case file is expected to be drawn up in order that they may be investigated independently.
Draft State Budget projects strong GDP growth of 2.4 pct in 2026
Strong growth driven primarily by rising investments, high primary surpluses, further reduction in unemployment (to its lowest level since 2008), and a decline in inflation are all projected in the draft state budget submitted to parliament on Monday National Economy and Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis. At the same time, the budget incorporates all measures to support young people, families, and pensioners.
ATHEX: France spooks investors at Athinon Avenue
The latest round of political turmoil in France generated more shockwaves across European stock markets on Monday, leading the Greek bourse, too, to notable losses at the start of the week. On the day the first draft of the Greek budget was submitted in Parliament and the process for the takeover of the Athens Stock Exchange by Euronext formally began, the benchmark at Athinon Avenue gave way, with banks suffering most of the pressure.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1283023/athex-france-spooks-investors-at-athinon-avenue
KATHIMERINI: The 4 files of EU Chief Prosecutor Kovesi
TA NEA: EU Chief Prosecutor: 5 thunderbolts
EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON: Kovesi: The law is protecting ministers
RIZOSPASTIS: Alert! Response with new strike to the abominable anti-worker bill
KONTRA NEWS: Rupture within the government by Foreign Minister Dendias regarding the Ruci case
DIMOKRATIA: Torpedoes by Foreign Minister Dendias and European Chief Prosecutor Kovesi hit the government
NAFTEMPORIKI: Foreign investments in real estate assets plunge
DRIVING THE DAY: WTF IS EVEN HAPPENING IN FRANCE?
MACRON KICKS THE CAN TO WEDNESDAY: We’re frankly loath to write anything about the French government, lest it change before you even have a chance to read it. But as things stand, French President Emmanuel Macron accepted the resignation of his 14-hour-old government on Monday morning — only to task outgoing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu with leading last-ditch talks.
Vraiment this time: Should Lecornu fail to reach a deal by Wednesday evening, Macron “will face up to his responsibilities,”close advisers told French media. Which may mean he will call a snap election.
Let’s be clear: No one thinks Lecornu will get a deal. POLITICO’s Clea Caulcutt lays out all the reasons why, and Playbook Paris catches you up on the latest this morning.
It’s become a theater of the absurd, and we can already envision the key scenes in the movie version:
— The lone figure: Macron made no public statements Monday but was spotted walking solo along the banks of the Seine.
— Triumphant cat lady: Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, a cat lover, took a kitten in a travel cage to a crunch meeting at National Rally headquarters, Marion Solletty reports. “We are ready to govern,” said the party’s president, Jordan Bardella, as he walked in, repeating calls for a snap election in which RN would likely perform very well.
— Et tu, Attal? Gabriel Attal, the close Macron lieutenant whom the president elevated to the post of prime minister at the ripe age of 34 last year, went on TV and declared: “I no longer understand [Macron’s] decisions.”
NOT SO ENTERTAINING: The weakness of France — the EU’s second-biggest economy and only nuclear power — has consequences for Ukraine, Gaza and the entire European economy.
“France is too big to fail,” said one diplomat from an EU country. “So this endless political instability puts the entire eurozone at risk.” Tim Ross and Giorgio Leali have this must-read on what’s at stake.
VDL’S RENEWED CONFIDENCE
URSULA’S CHARM OFFENSIVE: Here’s the thing about the Commission president: For all her perceived imperiousness and centralization of power, she’s pretty charming when she actually shows up. Once unable to score a meeting, she’s apparently won over U.S. President Donald Trump, who now says she’s “so fantastic.” She barely ever gives (real) interviews, but when she does, she’s warm and funny. So it’s no surprise, now that VDL is giving the Parliament a little TLC, that the old coalition of centrist MEPs is falling into line behind her.
A tale of two censure debates: In July, Socialists & Democrats leader Iratxe García said the center-left would be leading the “resistance” if von der Leyen kept cozying up to the right. On Monday evening, as von der Leyen faced two fresh no-confidence efforts, García delivered a tribute to “dialogue, negotiation and compromise.”
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE: Max Griera and Gerardo Fortuna break down how von der Leyen adjusted her approach to the Parliament between July and October.
Step 1 — Make them feel seen: The Berlaymont’s team made wrapping up a deal for Commission-Parliament relations a priority, while von der Leyen touched on some lefty priorities in her State of the European Union address last month, including acknowledging the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and name-checking the Green Deal.
Step 2 — Dangle something they want: Von der Leyen’s stay in Strasbourg is packed with political group meetings. A top topic: the upcoming presentation of the Commission’s annual work program for 2026, which lays out the EU’s legislative priorities. “These meetings will also be an enabler ahead of the vote, as groups will likely ask for political wins,” a Commission official explained.
Step 3: Tend, don’t defend: In July, von der Leyen was clearly angry, casting her haters as pawns of Vladimir Putin. This time, “I know there are some of you who are still unsure how to vote later this week,” she told MEPs. “This is why I want to renew my pledge that this College will engage with you in whatever format is needed to try to find the answers together.”
Did it work? We’ll find out when lawmakers vote on Thursday.
MORE COVERAGE: 13 things we learned from von der Leyen’s no-confidence debate.
OCT. 7, 2 YEARS ON
INTERVIEW — GERMANY RECKONS WITH ISRAEL TIES: Berlin will keep blocking things like sanctions for Israeli ministers because that’s its role at the Council table, said Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in an interview with Paul Ronzheimer of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, of which POLITICO is a member.
“Many colleagues ask: ‘Why don’t you join us in taking tougher positions against Israel?’” Wadephul recounted, “And I always say: ‘because as a German — not just as Johann Wadephul — I will always be Israel’s strongest defender.’”
Rare limits: “Everything that serves Israel’s existence and security, Germany will always deliver,” Wadephul said. But Berlin drew a line when the Israeli government cut off humanitarian aid flows to Gaza’s civilians. “That was a step we could not endorse,” he said, prompting Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s limited restriction on German arms transfers to Israel meant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Gaza City occupation.
SAW IT COMING: Wadephul said soon after Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israeli civilians and security forces, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage, he had a vision of how this would play out. He recalled telling a group of his fellow German Christian Democrats: “There will now be a reaction that we will initially find justified — but at some point later, we might start saying, ‘Israel is overdoing it.’” An estimated one in 10 Gazans have been killed or injured since the start of the war.
What he sees coming next, or at least hopes for: A ceasefire within a week, and the release of all remaining hostages. Read the full article.
HOW “OVERDOING IT” AFFECTS ANTISEMITISM: Wadephul lamented what he saw as an inadequate show of solidarity with Israelis from ordinary Germans right after Oct. 7. “I believe there’s been a certain alienation,” Wadephul said, musing it could be related to Israel’s settlement policy. “We’ll have to reflect on that — whether there are deeper reasons behind this distance.”
On persistent antisemitism, Wadephul said, “At times, unwise policies by Israeli governments have contributed to this climate too.” He added: “I see how criticism of Israel often merges with antisemitic attitudes … we have to acknowledge it before we can confront it.”
Echo in Strasbourg: Look for EU Internal Affairs and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner to make a similar point today while speaking to the European Parliament about fighting antisemitism around the bloc. “Jewish Europeans are being held responsible for the actions of the government of Israel,” Brunner will say, per prepared text shared with Playbook. “This conflation is unacceptable.”
Addressing another unspoken problem: In an apparent reference to populist parties that use protecting Jews as justification to demonize Muslims, Brunner will add: “Yet there is one thing we will not do: we will not fight antisemitism at the expense of other communities. Because the divide is not between Jews and other religions — it is between democrats and extremists.”
ISRAEL DEPORTS THUNBERG, HASSAN: Activist Greta Thunberg, former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau and French MEP Rima Hassan are among 171 flotilla activists deported by Israel to Greece and Slovakia on Monday after a failed bid to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza last week.
“I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me. But that is not the story,” Thunberg told supporters who gathered at the Athens international airport. Several activists released over the weekend said they were subject to inhumane conditions. The Israeli foreign ministry said it “fully upheld” their rights.
UKRAINE BLAME GAME
MERKEL VS. BALTS: Ex-German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s comments about Poland and the Baltics kiboshing her proposal in June 2021 to negotiate with Putin is drawing a furious response from those northeastern countries. Ketrin Jochecová writes it up.
A sample: “I consistently told her that you cannot deal with Putin ‘in good faith,’” said former Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, but Merkel “believed that the Baltic states were wrong.” Lithuania’s former Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said, “Say what you want about Merkel’s legacy, at least she finally admitted whose side she was on.”
MERZ VS. ORBÁN: The current German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recounted a testy exchange along similar lines with Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán during last week’s gathering of EU leaders in Copenhagen. Speaking to Germany’s NTV, Merz said Orbán criticized him for not talking to Putin. Merz said he pointed out what happened after Orbán went to Moscow last year — “Putin’s response was to bomb a children’s hospital in Kyiv.”
RUSSIA SANCTIONS LATEST: The EU is set to limit Russian diplomats’ travel within the bloc in its next package of sanctions after Hungary dropped its opposition to the move, the FT reports this morning.
TODAY IN STRASBOURG
COMMISSION TO PROPOSE STEEL TARIFFS: The College of Commissioners is expected to adopt a proposal on reining in imports of cheap steel in Strasbourg today,taking a page from Donald Trump’s playbook. Industry Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné and Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will give a press conference from Strasbourg at 5:30 p.m. Morning Trade has all the details.
PARLIAMENT VOTES ON SHIELDING ORBÁN’S OPPONENTS: The European Parliament is expected today to ratify the legal affairs committee’s decision to maintain the immunity of two Hungarian MEPs: the European People’s Party’s Péter Magyar (the Tisza party leader who’s currently beating Orbán in polling ahead of next year’s election), and the Socialists and Democrats’ Klára Dobrev (leader of the Democratic Coalition). Hungarian authorities wants their immunity lifted so they can prosecute the MEPs on charges of theft and defamation.
But for Ilaria Salis, a left-wing Italian MEP charged with assault of a far-right activist in Hungary, the outcome is far from certain because the EPP is divided. While its official position is to lift her immunity, a secret ballot opens the door for some of its MEPs to break ranks and vote to shield Salis from Hungary’s judicial system, which her supporters argue would deny her a fair trial. Salis denies the allegations and calls the charges politically motivated.
NOT SO FLEXITARIAN WHEN IT COMES TO LANGUAGE: The Parliament is also set for a heated plenary debate this afternoon on banning veggie alternatives to meat products from using names like “sausage,” “steak” or “burger.”
Sizzling with anger: The Greens call the move harmful for farmers supplying the plant-based sector. MEP Thomas Waitz said the EPP is “obsessed” with meat and accused the group of “ridiculous” culture war tactics designed to woo far-right voters. Proponents counter that “words matter.”
Now stuck in Playbook’s head: “The Farmer and the Cowman,” a song written in 1943 by Rogers and Hammerstein making the case that planters and ranchers “should be friends.” Apparently, this is a perennial tension. Lucia Mackenzie has more details on this modern iteration for Pro subscribers in Morning Agri.
GEORGIANS DREAM
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — PLEA FROM TBILISI: Eight imprisoned Georgian opposition politicians call on Ursula von der Leyen to suspend visa-free travel for a wide range of authorities from their country — from MPs to judges, and their family members.
Old hopes, new crackdown: After Georgia’s municipal election on Saturday in which the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed total victory, arrested more opposition figures for attempting to overthrow the government and announced a further crackdown, hopes persist in Tbilisi that the EU will act to save the country from plunging into authoritarianism.
Visa suspension workaround: Brussels previously failed to sanction senior Georgian officials over human rights violations due to opposition from Hungary and Slovakia. This time could be different, as the EU edges closer to adopting new visa suspension rules that don’t require unanimity.
Turn up the heat: “Only a broad and systematic application of this mechanism can exert the pressure necessary to force the regime to reverse course,” said the opposition politicians in the letter obtained by POLITICO. Dated Sept. 22, it was only handed over to the Commission late last week — getting physical signatures from people in jail took time.
RECOMMENDED READING: Balkan Insight has an eye-opening feature on how homeless people from EU countries (primarily Poland) are being deported from the Netherlands.